Alternative Names (Synonyms)

• Pygmy shrew
• Lesser shrew
• Luch féir (Irish Gaelic)
• Thollag-airhey (Manx)

Names for new-borns / juveniles

General Appearance

Similar Species

• Adult males inguinal bulges (testes)
• Adult females teat spots (three inguinal pairs) visible.

(B142).

References

Species Author

Major References

• B51, B52, B141,B142, B143, B144, B147, B156.12.w12, B221
• D30

Husbandry references:
B142, J23.15.w1, J23.26.w1, B22.27.w4, B156.12.w12

• Wildlife and Countryside Directorate, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR)
• The Mammal Society
• Mammals Trust

• British Mammal Factsheets

TAXA Group (where information has been collated for an entire group on a modular basis)

Parent Group

• Shrews (Insectivores)

Specific Needs Group referenced in Management Techniques

• Shrews (Insectivores)

Husbandry Information

Notes

• Accommodation of Casualty Shrews
• Hand-rearing Shrews
• Catching and Handling of Shrews
• Feeding of Casualty Shrews
• Release of Casualty Shrews

Measurement & Weight

• Head-body length: 40-60mm (B142, D30); 1.7-2.5in/42-62mm (B144).

• 2.4-6.1g; decrease by 28% in winter (B142).
• 0.1-0.2oz/2.5-6g (B144).

• 0.25g (B142, D30).
• 0.01oz/0.3g (B144).

• 2.5g by 14 days old and remain this weight to weaning (B142, B156.12.w12).

Head

• Nose: Snout narrow and pointed (long & slender), highly mobile, large vibrissae on snout (B142)
• Ears: Short and rounded with complex lobes in ear conch (B142).

• Teeth red-tipped (iron deposited).
• Five upper unicuspid teeth, with third unicuspid tooth larger than second.

(B142)

Legs and Tracks

• Short legs, plantigrade, five digits (B142).
• Hindfoot length: 10 to11mm (B142).

Tail

• Dorsal brown, ventral white.
• Becomes naked in second calander year.
• Length: 32-46mm; 65-70% of head-body length (B142); 1.3-1.8in/33-47mm (B144).

(B142, B144).

Coat / Pelage

• Dorsal: mid-brown (dark-grey to light brown)
• Ventral: dirty-white; paler than dorsal surface.

(B142, B144, B147, D30)

• Occasionally white tail tip.
• Rarely albino or cream.

(B142)

• Autumn moult: August to November, from tail forwards.
• Spring moult: March and June, from head backwards.

(B142).

Neonate (New-born) Characteristics

Detailed Anatomy Notes
(Summary information provided for pertinent species-specific data cross-referenced in Wildpro)

Scent glands: On flanks (B142, B147).

Natural Diet

• Mainly invertebrates, mainly less than 6mm long.
• Beetles, woodlice, adult flies, insect larvae, spiders.
• Occasionally small slugs and snalls, small amounts plant material.
• Not earthworms, not millipedes.
• 125% of body weight (9.7-13.0 kJ/g body weight) taken daily in captivity.

(B142, B147, B156.12.w12)

Detailed Physiology Notes
(Summary information provided for pertinent species-specific data cross-referenced in Wildpro)

Feeding Behaviour

• Opportunistic predators.
• Probe with snout, and dig, use smell and touch.
• Able to detect prey up to 12cm deep in soil.
• Attack head first to immobilise prey.
• Discard unpalatable parts e.g. large wings and legs.
• Food caching noted in captivit

(B142)

Parental Behaviour

Social Behaviour / Territoriality

• Aggressive, solitary and territorial.
• Remain in same location whole life once established, size of home rangemay decrease in winter.
• Home ranges generally exclusive, except in breeding season when males in particular extend ranges searching for females.
• Mark home range with lateral scent glands.
• Territory 5400-18,400square feet/530-18000 square meters (B144).
• Home range mostly 530-1860 square meters in Netherlands dunes, 1400-1700 square meters in British grassland (B142).
• 1,400 square metres in January to March, 1,700 square metres in November to December (B147)

(B52, B142, B144, B147)

Sexual Behaviour

Predation in Wild

• Owls, (tawny, barn), occasionally foxes possibly stoats, weasels; also domestic cats (B142, B144).

Activity Patterns

• Mainly ground-dwelling, also climbs into shrubs (B142).

• Day and night, more in day and frequent alternation rest and active.
• May spend 50% of time above ground in winter.
• Peaks 0800-1100, 2100-2300 in captivity.

(B52, B142, B147)

General Habitat Type

• Habitats vary with area: dunes and heathlands along North Atlantic coasts, swamps and meadows on continent, montane forests to 1700m in southern Europe (B143).
• Areas with abundant ground cover prefered, and grassland rather than woodland (B142).
• Forests and tundra (B51).
• Forest and open habitat; to 14,500ft/4520m in Himalayas. (B144).
• Where vegetation cover available (D30).

Nests / Burrows / Shelters

• Nest of grass or leaves.
• Commonly use burrows made by other species.
• Probably does not dig its own burrows

(B52, B147)

Distribution and Movement (Migration etc.)

• World: Europe including Britain and Ireland, except Mediterranean area and southern Iberia. Eastwards through western Siberia to Yenesei, and central Asia mountains south to Himalayas.
• Balkans, Iberian peninsula, southern France and south of Alps: patchy distribution at higher altitudes only.
• In Britain: at all altitudes. Not Shetlands, Isles of Scilly, Channel Islands.

(B51, B142, B143, B147).

--.

Intraspecific variation

Conservation Status

• Common in suitable habitats (B143).
• In Britain: native, common. Pre-breeding population estimate of about 8,600,000, including 4,800,000 in England, 2,300,000 in Scotland, 1,500,000 in Wales. Population estimate was "based on a very limited amount of information for the species" although additional knowledge "may not necessarily have made a substantial difference to the estimate". (B221)

• Bern Convention, Appendix III (B143).
• All shrews are listed on Schedule 6 (Animals which may not be killed or taken by certain methods) of the LUK2 - Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 of the United Kingdom. (W5.Oct01)